Look for God's Face

 

  Time to Think

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful,

 for beauty is God's handwriting.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Time to Act

 Look for beauty in the small, humble places. 

Be present and thank God for what He reveals.

 

Time to Pray

Heavenly Father, help me to carry a heart full of gratitude

 for the small wonders You place in my path.  

 

As I got the next cup of coffee, I looked out the window to the northeast. The sunrise looked promising. 

 

My Facebook feed from yesterday reminded me that I'd missed both a beautiful sunrise and sunset.

 

I decided it was worth the effort to put on my shoes and drive down the road to my sunrise tree for some photos. I wasn't going to make the same mistake again. 

 

Whoops - Just one problem: Our car is in Manhattan, waiting for a new fuel pump. How could I forget? Just a few days ago, we were sitting with a "dead" car at one of Manhattan's busiest intersections. I was out of the car, trying to encourage drivers approaching behind us to move over a lane while we waited for a tow truck. (Yes, I know Manhattan, Kansas, is not Manhattan, NYC, but it was still stressful.)

 

This morning, Randy took the pickup to town to have his weekly breakfast with his buddies. I didn't have a vehicle to drive anywhere. 

 

 

So I pivoted. I just walked out to the silo to see what the view was like there. It was worth the short walk to watch the light come through the clouds, accompanied by bird song.

In the scheme of things, this pivot was a small hiccup. Others are coping with much bigger disruptions in life: the loss of a job ... a sudden illness ... an untimely death ... angry voices everywhere ... uncertainty about the future ... the list seems inexhaustible. 

The last few weeks in Sunday School and in church sermons, the underlying theme has been Steadfast Love. Several of us said we should cut out this snippet of the lesson and put it on our mirrors:

Seek God's face. Seriously. This isn't a cliche to make you feel butter. It is a program for ridding yourself and the world of fear. Set yourself the task of looking for God at work within us. So look. Look for God's face in the face of a stranger serving you lunch, working on your car, asking for a handout. Look for God's face in the gestures of kindness in this terrible world, in the opportunities to laugh and sing, the moments of grace with loved ones, in the passion of body and soul. Seek God's face in the beauty of music, in the wonder of the world around you. You're on a mission. If you fill up your life with the search for God, you won't have time to fear. 

Each lesson has also had a music playlist attached. Because music speaks to me, I've listened every week to the "assigned" song. As I usually do, I looked ahead to this Sunday's lesson. It gives me time to think about what we'll be discussing as a group. 

This week, the suggested song is Kacey Musgraves' "Rainbow." Another favorite was Arvil Lavigne's  "Head Above Water." Give them a listen. And look for God in the every day, ordinary things of life.

 

Let Me Love

 

syn·chro·nic·i·ty: A meaningful coincidence—an event on the outside that speaks to something on the inside—as opposed to just a random occurrence

Do you ever feel like messages are coming to you like a flashing movie marquee? Or maybe like light breaking through the darkness of predawn, silhouetting a Kansas silo at sunrise?

During Lent, as we've traversed our way toward Holy Week this week, it has seemed that I'm seeing messages about love and light streaming into my mind. It's come in disparate way - listening to scripture at church, watching NCAA basketball, shivering in the coolness of a Kansas morning as I watch the sun's ascent, searching for music for a community Palm Sunday service or opening a series of unrelated emails. 

 

It has seemed a little like the planets coming together - kind of like we were supposed to see in our night sky last week. While I may not have had success in the nighttime sky realm, I do find messages - or God winks - scattered throughout the minutes of my days. 

 

After my K-State Wildcats defeated the Michigan State Spartans in overtime in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, our head coach - Jerome Tang - talked to a sideline reporter and had this to say:

 

"When you love people, it's amazing what you can accomplish."

Jerome Tang, Kansas State University men's basketball coach

after an overtime win in the NCAA tournament 

 

(Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

I immediately sent the quote to my kids and to several friends. Earlier that week, my friend, Linda, and I had gotten together to practice my solo for the Palm Sunday community service. I had combed through lots of music, but I kept coming back to one song called "Let Me Love." 

 

The words include:

Lord, You came to dwell on earth and share with us our lot.

You became our Sacrifice, our lives on Calv'ry bought.

Take this simple life, dear Lord; Take complete control.

Put the love of Jesus in my soul. ...

The song is certainly not showy. It wouldn't be one of those songs to get "The Voice" coaches on TV to hit their buttons and twirl their red chairs. It doesn't cover huge vocal range or have a huge ebb and flow of dynamics. But while the melody and the tune are simple and straightforward, the message isn't necessarily easy. 

 

After we were done practicing, Linda and I sat to chat for a little bit. Just a few weeks before, Stafford had united behind our boys' basketball team as they made their first appearance in 70 years at the state basketball tournament. A sea of red t-shirts filled the stands as the Trojans took to the court. At the time, people commented on Facebook about it bringing the town together. 

 

And it did ... for a little bit.

 

But it didn't take long for us to forget that comradery, that feeling of united purpose. The contentiousness crept back onto Facebook as neighbors railed against other neighbors - with Facebook posts to prove the point. 

 

 

Ripples inevitably spread out from all of us - both positive and negative.

 

Stafford certainly isn't alone in that. Turn on the evening news or scroll through Facebook or Twitter. Do people like being bent out of shape? It sometimes seems so. 

It could be easy to be discouraged by that. And, I sometimes am.

 

But even in the midst of my discouragement, I kept getting related messages.

 

I'm not sure how I got on an email list for an Inspiring Quotes email, but I did. And I often find inspiration from those posts. One recent one featured the words of poet Shel Silverstein:

How much good inside a day?
Depends how good you live ‘em.
How much love inside a friend?
Depends how much you give ‘em.

– Shel Silverstein 

 “How Many, How Much" from "A Light in the Attic"

Stafford UMC

Another Inspiring Quotes email featured the words of writer Edith Wharton. 

There are two ways of spreading light: 

To be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

Poet Edith Wharton

 Christ candle & the cross at Stafford United Methodist Church

In other words, carrying on the “light” of another — be it ideas, joy, love, or inspiration — can be just as valuable as creating it yourself.

I saw another post from Character Counts, titled "Courtesy is Kindness in Action." Here's part of what writer Michael Josephson had to say:

As a society, we have become almost obsessed with identifying and asserting our rights – to think, say, and do what we want. That’s not surprising, given the history of our country and the prominent role the Constitution and Bill of Rights have played in shaping our culture.

We have a right to be unkind, thoughtless, and disrespectful – but it isn’t right.

Ralph Waldo Emerson pointed out, “Life is short but there is always time for courtesy.”

The idea is to act in ways that make the people we are dealing with feel valued. Courtesy is kindness in action....Always be kinder than necessary because you can never be too kind.

Michael Josephson

I get several daily devotional emails. Sometimes I find them more meaningful than other days. I'm sure that has more to do with my attitude - not the devotionals themselves. Some days, it's just another confirmation of the other messages that subtly come into my day. 

The devotional New Each Morning had this to say:

Today's Reflection

Each time we step out of our comfort zones and into the messy and sacred world of caring about others, we risk stepping in the confusion of humanity. We may find ourselves asking questions about God and about this world filled with both beauty and affliction. When we share our journeys and questions with one another, our capacities to love and serve with humility, faithfulness, gratitude and peace grow.

- Rebecca Bruff, Loving the World with God: Fourth Day Living (Upper Room Books, 2014)

Today’s Question

 Reflect on the prayer of St. Francis today:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith,

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

And where there is sadness, joy. 

 

Today’s Scripture

And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds.

Hebrews 10:24 (NRSV)

 

It sounds like a goal to aspire to during this Holy Week. I hope to still find the light in situations - both physically and spiritually.